Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing firm Sulzer has endorsed Spinnova’s consortium, which the Finnish firm established to advance the adoption of its fiber technology across the industry.
Sulzer officially joins Spinnova’s ecosystem to help bring Spinnova fiber to the textile materials market. The Winterthur-based company presented plans to provide technical support — offering engineering expertise in energy efficiency, emissions reduction and resource management — to enable Spinnova’s fiber production to operate reliably at an industrial scale.
“Sulzer is committed to supporting companies that push the boundaries of innovation like Spinnova,” said Sirpa Välimaa, head of the pulp, paper and board business segment at Sulzer, which worked with Spinnova on Woodspin, spanning early planning to production ramp-up, from 2021 through 2023.
While Spinnova gained full ownership of Woodspin and Suzano Finland (for about $2), including a $5.8 million capital contribution from Suzano, avoiding a near-term cash flow hit, this was expected to weigh on Spinnova’s 2025 results. That August, Spinnova recorded an impairment loss of about $21.54 million on Woodspin.
“The year 2025 was significant for Spinnova and had an impact on our choices both strategically and operationally,” Spinnova CEO Janne Pornanen said when earnings were announced last month. “We updated our strategy to reflect the changes in the market environment and focused especially on improving the cost-efficiency of our production process, expanding the raw material base, developing the properties of the fiber, and building an international business consortium.”
The publicly traded Swiss company also supported the scale-up of pilot production of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), a material made by breaking cellulose fibers into much smaller, individual fibrils. It’s a key material input for Spinnova fiber.
Spinnova’s patented process gives its fiber the look and feel of a natural cellulosic fiber, such as cotton. As a result, the Scandinavian producer can make textile fiber(s) from wood pulp or waste inputs—think leather, textiles and agricultural crop waste — thereby nixing the traditional chemical-dissolution route for viscose and lyocell production. In terms of technology, Spinnova said it produces no side streams (waste byproducts) in the fiber production process. Beyond delivering machinery and expertise, co-development with Sulzer should strengthen Spinnova’s offering to scale up its technology.
“By combining Sulzer’s technology and engineering expertise in pumping, mixing and fiber suspension flows with our technology concept, we can industrialize more effectively,” said Mikko Kautto, Spinnova’s technology concept and partners manager. “This partnership strengthens the entire process from planning to implementation, improving the concept competitiveness at large scale.”
Spinnova’s ecosystem focuses on scale: moving from promising technology to a consistent, cost-competitive fiber supply involving partners across the value chain. Within that ecosystem, Spinnova provides the core fiber technology, while partners industrialize it — making it cheaper, faster and more reliable to produce at large volumes. Sulzer, in particular, should support its cost competitiveness.
